The Dream
by Bindi
Summary: What will happen now that Captain Riker has awakened. Part 4 is now up. Waiting for R&R.
1. Part one

Disclaimer--  I really wish I did own these characters.  Paramount owns most of them.  I just write about them.

I decided to try my hand at this style after reading The Nightmare.  Thanks Puffin for stirring me to try this.

The Dream

_What?_  Will jumped out of his bed with a start.  He could not fathom why he had awakened so suddenly.  Deanna was sound asleep next to him and at first glance sleeping peacefully.  As he watched her he found she was moaning slightly.  It was then that he understood that she was having a rather intense dream.  _Imzadi, wake up.  You are having a nightmare._  He disliked trying to wake her physically, she tended to swing at the closest thing to her, usually him.  This way she would wake just enough to stop the dream.  Unfortunately though she continued to grown.  

            _Deanna._  This time he tried to shake her.  She still did not respond.  As he was reaching for his combadge to call for medical assistance he found himself falling.   _Help!_  The mental cry heralded his falling back into bed, unconscious.  A scene unfolded before him.  A dark forest that seemed very familiar.  He was in the nightmare of his youth, dark foreboding trees from when he was a small child which were found later to merely be the lovely forest surrounding his home.  He looked around feeling very uneasy, almost scared.  He had dealt with fear many times in his life, but this time the emotion was as nearly uncontrollable as it had been when his mother had died.  For some reason he knew that it wasn't his fear.  He knew his own reactions enough to be fairly certain that he wasn't the source of this overwhelming urge to scream.

            Deanna was nowhere to be seen.  But he knew that she was here.  _I'm in her dream.  The last thing I remember was reaching to call Alyssa.  Why am I here, better yet, how is it possible?_

A scream pierced his thoughts.  Not Deanna's as he would have expected, but both of his children.  Even though Deanna was currently pregnant with his son, he was certain that he heard  two children cry out in terror, and instinctively was sure that one was Julie and the other the unborn son they planned to name Kyle.  Without giving it conscious thought he was running after the sound, which only became more frantic as he ran.  

_            WILL!!!!_  Deanna was horrified.  _How could they do this to me?  Why won't they leave me alone!!_  She watched in helpless horror as her Little One was tied to a stake with wood lined around her.  Whoever these monsters were, they had decided that her and her child were both heretics.  She watched as they lit the fire.  Her child screamed in pain as the flames began to engulf her.  Deanna howled with her as she felt the searing heat and fear from her daughter and the painfully shrill incoherent wail of her unborn son as he caught the backlash of his mother's empathic overload.  She fell into hysterics, unable to fight anything else, when she heard Will screaming as well.

            _"Deanna!!! My Imzadi!!"_ Both with voice and mind Will screamed as he entered the clearing to see his wife hanging from a witch's cradle straight from medieval times.  The metal cage hugged her tightly, keeping her from moving.  Her arms were confined above her head as the formfitting cage held them in place.   She barely fit with her swollen belly.  She was screaming wordlessly now, unable to do anything to stop what else was happening around her.  His senses took in the whole scene as one.  Unthinking, Will leapt into the fire where his little pumpkin was burning to death.  The ropes that held her were nowhere near being burned enough to pull her free, and Will was caught with her as the flames licked ever higher.  His last thought was of his family and how they would never see the light of day again.  Deanna fell unconscious as she felt Will's life ebb from him, followed by her daughter.  

            _Mommy?  Mommy?_  It was the first thought that ever made sense to the infant's developing mind.  He was scared.  He did not know why but he could feel it and knew that if mommy didn't answer soon, she never would.  _Mommeeeee!_

            Julie Riker woke screaming.  She did not even remember getting out of her bed, or going straight to her parents room.  She would remember the scene that she saw for many years and it would cause her nightmares well into her teen years.  On the bed were her parents, both staring into the semi-dark room with eyes that saw nothing.  They were still alive, she could feel the fear coming from both of them.  Their faces held a mask of terror that she had never experienced in her few short years.  She had used the computer systems to call her parents so at least she knew how to get help.  Summoning all the courage she could she opened her mouth and all but yelled.  "Tina!  Medical emergency in the Captain's quarters."  Then all she could do was cry.

            _Mommee?  Mommee?  _The little voice kept crying.  He was hot, ad unbearably hot.  He was scared.

            _Kyle?  Mommy's here._  Deanna did not know where here was but she had to soothe her son.  The grief she felt consumed her as she tried to rock her baby and found him not there.  She heard him, but he wasn't there.  None of them were.  They had killed her daughter, and now they were taking her son.  Her husband was gone as well.  Her Imzadi and best friend.  Even the feeling of the small life inside her was not enough for her to regain her sense of self enough to do more than notice the cry.  

            As if she were being fed a story in her mind, she watched again as her family burned, the way witches once were.  And again.  Then the forest caught fire, then she saw her room on the _Titan_ burn, then the ship itself.  She never exploded, but Deanna watched as the entire crew died slowly from fire and asphyxiation, and still she watched.  The fire consumed the ship and flew on like a phoenix spreading death wherever it went, with Deanna riding it between its wings. 

            "They are both in a coma.  I don't know why or how to wake them.  Neither will respond to the stimulant I gave them and I dare not try another dose."  Dr. Ogawa looked at the first officer as she tried to keep her own emotions in check.

            "What should I tell Julie?  You and I both know that she knows that her  parents won't wake up.  She keeps insisting that they are locked in some sort of nightmare."

            "She might just be right.  If she is, there is not much I can do at the moment.  If we had a strong telepath on bored or a Vulcan they might be able to help.  The last time I remember Deanna being in this kind of state we were dealing with beings from another dimension.  But even then we could wake her.  And I want you to look at this."  She pulled the sheet off of the Captain, revealing a section of skin on his abdomen.  The flesh was charred and peeling, as if he had been caught in a fire.  "He came in with a smaller area on his hands.  I repaired those wounds only to hear him moan again, clutch his stomach and fall deeper into this state.  He biological readings at the time indicated a response to extreme heat in the same area.  His mind is reacting to his dream in the same manner it would in a waking state.  I have to get them out of this before they both cause themselves more damage, or hurt the baby."

            "What about putting them deeper to sleep, past the dream state?"

            "I was thinking of doing that.  But since we are talking about the Captain I need to inform you of what I plan to do.  We need to find a way to reach them but until then I need to stop what I can.  With your permission, but I think you need to talk to Julianna first.  She is going to know when I do this and I don't want her to think her parents are dying, they should be safe but to an empath, especially a five year old one, the lack of input from them will be rather disconcerting.  She may even insist on being in her, which I don't want.  Unfortunately she is too much like her parents in that respect." Alyssa sighed.

            "I will tell her.  If she gives me the famous Riker grief I will take responsibility for her.  I can't deny her what she really wants to do.  It is just as useless as telling Will no."  Tina LeBeau went to retrieve her niece, only to find the girl staring out into space.  She was sitting in a chair with her arms hugging her legs and rocking.  She was whispering to herself almost rhythmically.  Tina strained to her what she was saying.  The language was not Standard or any variant of Terran language she had heard.  She nearly had to cradle the child for the translator to pick up the soft speech.  Julie was singing to herself, and totally unresponsive otherwise.  LeBeau guessed the language to be Betazoid, and was only sure after hearing the one word she knew; Imzadi.  Picking Julie up she returned to the other room.  "Alyssa, we have a problem."

            Julie saw both of her parents.  Lying next to her on the ground was a newborn baby.  He was wrapped in nothing more than a towel.  She began to sing to the little crying babe, sitting down and taking him in her arms.  She was such a tiny girl that the babe was nearly too much for her.  Her parents never noticed her.  Julie was so fixed on comforting the child that she never saw her parents being tied to a stake, and burned alive.  

            What she thought had been hours passed as she rocked the baby, watching in terror as he began to have trouble breathing, and finally not even trying.  It was then she was whisked away on a flaming bird, a phoenix she knew would destroy every thing in its path.  And her mother was guiding it.  They flew and flew, bursting every thing they touched into flame.  Finally the flaming bird found what it was looking for, a hole in space, being guarded by two ships.  A part of Julie's mind knew they were Starfleet.  Another only knew people were going to die.  _TOM!!  _She cried before she fell silent from the pain of feeling two thousand people succumb to the fire that was ridden by her mother.

            "Julie, wake up."  The familiar voice cooed in Julies ear, bringing her back to the hear and now with a start.  An incoherent scream accompanied her bolting upright on the biobed.  Strong but slender arms gripped her as she began to sob.  Tina let her cry for a few minutes before trying to get her to listen.

            "It's ok Jules.  Tee's here.  It's ok."  Over and over the words came from the first officer's mouth as she soothed the little girl.  Finally Julie began to pull herself together.  Then suddenly she was looking at Tina with the same professional air of her parents.

            "Mom and Dad are being held in the dream by something that is after Tom.  I don't know how but they are flying a giant bird at him.  And the bird is on fire."

            "How did you know this?"

            "I was thinking out in the hall and I heard a cry.  I think it was my baby brother.  They are all in a lot of trouble.  We have to wake them up, or my brother and Mommy and Daddy will die like grampa."  Gone again was the midget counselor to be replaced by the frightened child.

            "Doctor, what else can we do to wake them?"

            "The only thing that I know short of trying more drugs that may cause more damage than help them is through telepathy.  Whether it is the form similar to Betazoid or more akin to the mind meld of Vulcans I am not sure which would help.  It would definitely be dangerous to whoever tried it.  Julie fell into it by accident, we were just lucky she was able to come out of it."

            "What if the two of us tried.  I don't know if it would work, but the other choice is not know why this is happening."

            "I can only give you one shot at this.  If you don't have anything within the hour, I am going to have to place them into a deeper coma.  If that doesn't stop it the only thing left until we could get to a specialist is stasis."

            LeBeau knew the ships as soon as she saw them.  She could not see their designation, but in the induced state dream language reigned.  One ship seemed masculine while the other had a feminine touch.  They seemed mated to one another.  The conscious mind which was in control of the situation knew this could only be one pair of ships in the Fleet;  The _Trident_ and the _Excalibur_.  They were the only ships which could be mated to each other, since their respective Captains were spouses.  Julie told her Tom was in danger from Will and Deanna's dream, now she could see the destruction for herself.  Unable to pull away from the scene in front of her she watched as first the _Excalibur_ and then the _Trident_ fell prey to this giant phoenix.  In her mind she heard the screams over and over again, felt the pain and death throes.  She experienced every death over and over again.  From Xyon, the son of the _Excalibur's _first officer, to Tom Riker and Captain Shelby.  Every death came with a name and life.  She felt herself screaming as the pain racked her body.  A hand gripped hers as she was beginning to lose her battle to remain sane.  The small hand held fast to her and together they claimed a small anchor, one to the other.  As long as they knew the other was there they could remember they were in a dream which wasn't their own.  Together the plunged toward the ships.  Tina knew they had to wake the two whose dream they invaded.  The problem was she did not know how to reach them.  Will was nowhere to be found in the dream.  She hoped that by finding the dream version of Tom she could reach Will.  Deanna was lost in the fury of the beast.  The aerobatics were spectacular and Deanna appeared to be in control until Tina forced her view point to change and she could see her eyes.  They were glazed in a primordial terror which Tina had only seen once or twice in her life.

            Julie motioned for her to look at the more feminine of the ships.  She knew Tom was there.  Following dream thought she changed the focus of what she wanted to see.  She found herself on the bridge watching as the scene of destruction played on.  "Commander Riker!"  Tom did not respond to Tina's order.  Instead he spoke hurriedly to someone Tina did not know.

            "I thought you said the dimensional barrio was stable here?" 

            "It was sir, but in the past thirty seconds there was a cascade reaction to our probe.  Not only has the barrier breached something is coming through."  Then the phoenix engulfed them again.

            "Commander.  Tina."  The sound of her name brought her to wakefulness.

            "Where's Julie?"

            "I'm right here Tee.  You were deeper than me, it took Alyssa longer to wake you up than me."

            Tina sat upright.  "Doctor, I want them woke up now."  She hugged Julianna tight.  "Putting them deeper or in stasis will make it worse.  If you don't not only will they die, but so will a lot of others, including Calhoun and Shelby's crews."  Again she hugged Jules to her.  "I'll accept the consequences for the order."

            "Aye sir."  She took a pair of hypos from the tray.  "I think this combination of stimulant and neural depressant will work.  The idea is to wake them up while shutting down the subconscious.  What this will do is cause the release of large amounts of dopamine and seretonin into their blood stream.  This should shut the receptors down in the areas of the brain which process dreams.  Overload them with hormones and the shift gears.  Instead of inducing a dream it sends the patient into a waking dream.  Once they are conscious I will have to administer an anti-psychotic to reverse the chemically induced episode.  This will either work, or will send them into a deeper coma, or worse a waking fugue state which requires them to be restrained and subsequently resedated."

            "Julie, do you want to leave?"

            "No Tee.  If something happens I want to see it, not just feel it."

            LeBeau nodded at the Doctor to begin.  At first nothing happened.  Then Julie buried her head in Tina's legs.  She felt it just after Julie.  Tina had very little empathy except with close friends.  When her two friends began to thrash against the restraints Ogawa place on them she buried her head in Julie's hair.  Several minutes later they were calm again.

            "I think it worked.  They should sleep another couple of hours, maybe up to a day.  Deanna nearly burned herself out trying to protect the baby.  But both of them will make it.  I would suggest they both see a counselor after this, but Deanna is the counselor and her assistants just aren't trained in the advanced techniques."

"Either way they won't be fit for duty for a couple of days at least, am I correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Can you keep Julie for a bit.  I need to go to the bridge."

"Of course Tina."

The dream was different now.  Will stretched out on the beach holding his wife's hand.  She lazily stretched on the sand, sighing as she did so.  Neither saw the flaming bird in the distance.  


	2. Part 2

            Commander LeBeau purposely strode onto the bridge.  "Lieutenant, how long is the lag for subspace between us and the _Trident_ and how long to get there?"

            "Not knowing exactly where they are in their patrol, it could be anywhere between five minutes and a half hour.  As for getting there, at warp 9 is could be between five days and a week."

            "Damn.  Helm set a course for sector 221 G, warp 9.3.  Heath you still have the bridge, I have a message to send."

            "Aye sir."  Karen watched as the First Officer left the bridge and enter the ready room.  "Anyone know what that was about, and has anyone got an update from sickbay about the Captain?"

            Sitting at the Captain's desk Tina tried to figure out how to word the message, without sounding like a kid around a campfire telling a ghost story.  It was one thing to tell Will something strange, he would definitely believe it after so many years of dealing with Deanna and dreams.  But how would Shelby handle something like this?  She doubted that she had dealt with events in this vein.  Besides how would they react knowing that she really did not have any other information and wouldn't for almost another day?  She did not allow herself long to ponder before figuring that since truth was often stranger than fiction most like Shelby would at least listen and take caution until she knew more.  She recorded all that she knew and sent the message, addressed to both Shelby and Comdr. Riker.  Now she had to inform her senior staff everything that had happened, and check on Jules.

            There was a small bundle curled up on a chair in the corner of sickbay.  Julie had been comforted by the changes in her parents and had fallen back to sleep in the oversized chair.  No one had the heart to wake her, even enough to move her.  Alyssa had taken care to ask one of her nurses to go to the Captain's quarters and retrieve Julie's bear and blanket for her.  While waiting she updated the charts of her two patients.  Will would definitely recover completely.  He would not even bear a scar from the third degree burns on his stomach and hands.  Deanna would physically recover although Alyssa worried about her mental health.  She had suffered a near death experience from the depletion of the neurotransmitter responsible for both her telepathy and empathy.  The stress of what she had suffered and her pregnancy must weigh on her heavily.  With luck she would come out of this with much the same resilience that she had in times past.  But for now all Alyssa could do was see to her physical health, and that of her baby.  The boy was remarkable in his recovery.  It had been touch and go for a while but now he appeared to not only be out of danger but  was thriving and showing no sign that he had ever been in danger.

            The nurse returned with Julianna's blanket.  Alyssa placed it over her, tucked the bear under her arm and kissed her on the forehead.  She left the family to sleep and then called LeBeau with the update.

            Julie walked through the storm.  White blankets of snow covered the ground, with new fall covering her footsteps as soon as she made them.  Wind howled as she walked.  She did not feel the cold as she traversed the desolate area.  Around her the storm raged and she knew there was something she needed to find.  A stone wall loomed in front of her, barely visible in the raging storm.  She neared the wall and found it to be more of an open ring than a solid stone.  Swirling colors began to form in the hole as she watched.  A woman and man stumbled out of the hole, collapsing almost immediately.  The woman was blonde and the man showed a prominent scar on his cheek.  Both were wearing Starfleet uniforms.  The woman closed her eyes, in what appeared to be her final moments.  The man held her for a moment before he too closed his eyes.  Julie knew they were both dying when they disappeared in a transporter effect.

            Then she saw it again, the phoenix.  This time the bird appeared younger, smaller.  The man and the woman she had just seen were watching next to her.  It was as if she were watching a vision of the past.  They never noticed her as she watched.  The scene changed again and now Julie was on the bridge of a starship, not much different for her home.  The man was there with the rest of the bridge crew.  Julie did not see the woman from earlier.  A woman who looked a lot like her grandmother was at the helm.  She looked as focused as her grandmother and as in control of the situation.  Fire was licking up over some of the consoles and people were running trying to accomplish the orders given by the man she had been dreaming about.  Julie watched as they lost the battle yet again to keep their ship from being engulfed in the flame of the phoenix.  Julie was not sure how many times she had witnessed this part from different angles.  Closing her eyes she braced herself for the onslaught of emotions and death knells that were sure to follow.

            As she began to lose the battle to keep her wits about her the scene changed again.  This time she saw the woman, and Tom.  He was seated to the woman's left, just as her mother sat beside her father.  Both of them looked ready to scream at the rest of the bridge crew to come up with an idea to save the other ship.  No one had an answer.  Julie watched as the Captain ordered them to retreat.  But it was too late.  The flaming creature began to engulf them as well, and Julie felt Tom die, again.

            Will awoke in stages.  First he took in the sounds.  Deanna's breathing came to his notice first.  Then he heard Julie's.  From there he heard the rest of the sounds of sickbay.  Finally he tried to touch his wife's mind.  She was sleeping peacefully.  Now sure he was in one piece, he opened his eyes.  As he had figured out he was in sickbay.  Sitting slowly he found his little girl curled up in a chair, with the blanket Beverly had made for her and the bear she had insisted on when they were in Lebarre a few months ago when he was named godfather for Beverly's daughter.  No one else was in the room so he stood on his own and took his pumpkin in his arms and wept for joy.

            "Captain, how are you feeling?"  Ogawa stood in the doorway of the room.

            "Much better now."  Julie stirred and snuggled closer to her father's chest.  "What happened?  I remember being woke up by Deanna's nightmare and then trying to call you."  Will still held his daughter tightly.  The memories started to stir.

            "Apparently you were sucked into Deanna's dream state.  Do you remember anything other than waking up?"

            "Bits.  I usually don't remember much of my dreams.  I seem to remember something terrible happening to Julie and Deanna."  He lost his composure for a moment.  "How's the baby?"

            "Your son is fine.  He was in distress for a little while, but he has recovered so completely you could never tell he was in any danger."

            The sigh from Will seemed louder in the quiet room.  "I also remember a lot of fire and burning."

            "Well when you were brought in here you had burns on your hands.  After they were treated you developed burns on you abdomen.  Both have been treated and you won't even scar, but your mind produced a physical reaction to something that happened in the dream state.  Before you ask, Deanna did not suffer any physical injury.  She did have a large drop in her neurotransmitter level, but  she is recovering.  She will be fine in a few hours."  She tousled Julie's hair.  "You need to thank her and Tina.  The two of them went in and found out what was happening to you and then we were able to get you out of it.  That girl keeps surprising me, and I don't know why.  I should expect things like this from your kid, she's just like the two of you.  Stubborn as a mule and as smart as a tack.  Which brings me to the next point. Here is where I say I outrank you.  NO duty for at least another 48 hours.  I won't stop you from getting reports and any updates, but don't step one foot on the bridge.  You may be physically fine, but I suspect you are going to drop off to sleep at a moments notice for the next day or so.  Besides, Julie has had quite a scare so I claim family leave.  I will give you the choice of staying here until Deanna wakes up or you can go back to your quarters.  I will let you talk to LeBeau and get updates from the bridge.  But don't even think about stepping up there.  Is that clear?"

            Will could not resist teasing the woman.  Every time Alyssa had told him he was off duty for any length of time, she sounded just like Beverly.  It always made him think that she gave the woman a verbatim speech to memorize.  "How many variants of that speech did Beverly teach you?  And am I the only one you use this on?"

            Alyssa now ruffled his hair in the same way that she just had Julie's.  It was a rare moment when they were alone and they could show the friendship that had developed over the years.  "No you aren't the only one I use it on, I use it on Deanna more than I do you.  Beverly would leave Medical and find a way to kill me if I let anything happen to the two of you.  And I think at last count I had over 150 versions of the don't go to work speech, and about five more in my mail from Beverly about how to bribe you and Deanna to take time off for the health of your children.  Now are you staying or going?"

            "I think I should put this one to bed.  I will come by in the morning as soon as Julie wakes up.  Would you call me if Deanna wakes up sooner?"

            "I'll even beam you in here in your underwear if you want."

            "Thanks Lyss."  Will shifted Julie a bit, grabbed her things and went to his quarters.  Alyssa knew he wouldn't just lie around so she had given him a compromise which would give him the physical rest, and keep him mostly out from underfoot.  The first thing he did after tucking the Pumpkin in was contact Tina.      


	3. Part Three

Part 3

_            Tina watched as Tom flew a ship.  It had to be the Trident, since the bridge was wrong to have been hers.  He was sweating with concentration, trying to coax more out of the vessel.  She then watched as the look on his face changed to horror.  Tina shifted her gaze to the viewer in front of her.  The giant phoenix she had seen in Deanna's dream was before the vessel, currently swallowing in its crest another ship, one she instinctively knew was the _Excalibur._  From behind there was a very un-captain like yelp from Shelby. "Not again.  I won't lose him again.  Arex, Get those people out of there!"  Tina knew they weren't going to succeed.  But she couldn't tear herself from what she was watching.  Flame continued to swallow the other ship as she heard the frantic yet ordered sounds of a bridge crew doing their jobs in a crisis.  There were not any screams or yelling, just the tone of voice that belied the confidence and sure reactions of the people speaking._

_            The ship disappeared from view, gone again.  Tina absently heard the _Trident's_ security chief say that they only managed to get about a third of the crew before the ship had been destroyed.  Calhoun had not been among the ones retrieved.  Shelby ordered the crew to get the ship out of there before they too fell victim.  Tom's fast actions bought them another minute of life, until the bird caught them as well.  Tina felt every death.  When Tom died, for some reason she could not keep from crying._

_            Unlike when she was in Deanna's nightmare the scene did not repeat.  Instead she now flew on the back of the bird herself, now heading back toward the Federation, and home.  Every planet the bird passed it at least grazed the surface.  Finally it slowed.  Tina did not know where she was.  The next thing that came to her consciousness frightened her more than anything had in her life.  A nest of flame loomed in front of her.  The bird alighted on it, settling on it the way a sparrow would when nesting.  Behind her she felt the presence of people she knew.  Behind her were Tom, Deanna, and Julie.  Will was nowhere to be seen.  They all wore the mask of death from something horrible.  Tina could not bear anymore.  Crying out she surrendered to grief beyond any known._

            "Security over ride, authorization Thompson gamma 16."  Katie overrode the lock on the ready room door when LeBeau did not respond to the call that there had been a response to her earlier message.  The Commander lay face down on the desk.  She apparently passed out sitting at the desk.  A quick check confirmed that she was unconscious, but breathing.  "Thompson to sickbay.  We have a medical emergency in the Captain's ready room."

            When Ogawa entered the ready room she had expected to find the Captain.  He was not known for listening very well.  Instead she found the First Officer in much the same state she had found Will and Deanna the night before.  "Transporter room, two to beam directly to sickbay."  

            Katie watched as they two of them disappeared.  Absently she returned to her post and looked at Heath.  "Who's next?"  

            Ogawa was not a happy person.  What she had thought had been isolated had just now claimed the First Officer.  LeBeau was lying on the biobed unconscious, while Deanna was in the other room, her vital signs showing that she might be on a relapse.  Will had been summoned.  The Captain looked worn thin but at least he was conscious.  Julie was in her quarters, and from what could be read from sickbay, she was in a normal sleep, for the moment.  "I could try what I did for you and Deanna but I don't know if it will work.  She hasn't been out that long and with humans it seems the neurotransmitter functions are different enough that being in this state poses less of a risk than it does for Betazoids, but since she was born with the telepathy, I can't be positive that she will respond."

            "How did you know what Dee and I were going through, exactly?"

            "LeBeau and Julianna purposely formed a telepathic rapport with you and the Counselor.  They experienced your dream.  Julie came out of it on her own, but I had to give the Commander a stimulant to wake her.  It might be that what ever is causing this cannot grasp on to a child's mind, or it may have to do with the fact that Julie is ¾ human.  If it was just the mixed blood keeping Julie out of this Deanna should have a similar reaction.  It could also have to do with the pregnancy.  I just don't know at this point.  We aren't equipped to monitor telepathic overloads here.  Although after some of the stunts Deanna has pulled on us before I really think we should look into this type of phenomenon more.  Do you want me to try what I did with the two of you?"

            "Unless you can think of something better.  I don't want Jules to go through that again."  He looked a little forlorn and tried not to think too loudly lest Julie wake up and over hear him._  And not just for her sake.  I thought I had lost her once today; that is quite enough for a lifetime, thank you._

            "Ok.  But I am going to warn you, if their reaction to the two of you coming out of this was to gauge, you are going to know she is coming around before I do, and it won't be pleasant either.  So brace yourself."

            "Do it."  Will was not a religious man, but something within him stirred, for just a moment, and he silently let a very small prayer come forth.

            _Throughout his career and life Captain Will Riker had waking nightmares in the form of war, starvation, plague, simply put suffering and death in every known form.  He had witnessed not just real life death but had felt it in the form of shared grief from Deanna, as well as holding her up during the worst that could happen to a person and still survive.  He had even experienced the dream terrors that were plaguing his wife and Justina at the moment.  None of that held a candle to the shear terror and abject insanity he felt after Alyssa administered the hypo.  Not being an empath, and only recently able to have any form of mind to mind contact with anyone but Deanna, he was overwhelmed by the images that flooded his mind.  Not just of the flying death plaguing their subconscious but of the pure insanity of a psychotic episode.  He learned in an instant every failure his friend had in her life, every time she had found herself ordering someone into danger, her own capture as a mere junior grade lieutenant at the hand of the Cardassians and Founders during the Dominion war.  He saw every nightmare she had rolled into a few moments.  He watched as he saw Tina crawl under her childhood bed screaming, a monster sniffing her out.  He saw her crying at her grandmere's funeral.  He knew he should try to stop himself, but the grief and fear the woman was feeling overcame he sense to try to block it out.  Absently he realized this must be how Deanna felt every time she had counseled a truly insane person.  The emotion flooded him and he was helpless to control it any longer. _

_            An eternity passed and then incoherent thought flooded him.  A primal fear which engulfed him into itself.  He felt himself fall as he began to scream, with no cause other than he was more frightened than he had even been when he thought he was watching his daughter being burned at the stake._

            Again Will found himself again lying on a biobed in sickbay.  He clutched his head from the remnants of a headache he would not soon forget.  It nearly eclipsed the one from the virus that had given him the telepathy in the first place.  All he could remember was fear; fear as he had never known it before.  A groan escaped his mouth.

            "Welcome back Captain.  This time you fell prey to the psychotic overload from Tina.  The good news is I think it worked.  The bad news is until we knew what is causing this I think it would be a much better idea for the lot of you to stay here or monitored from your quarters.  I haven't found a clue.  I have even detailed Ben to try to find something technological, as well as having Karen and Quenten working on it."

            "I guess you get the big chair, for what it's worth.  Anything happen in the time I have been out?"

            "Well, we got a response from the _Trident_.  They are looking into anything that remotely resembles what we have.  They also say the _Excalibur _is en route to them and should get there within the day.  You can see the message for yourself if you want. We on the other hand have a little over six days left.  We could try to cut that a little but not without risking over loading the warp drive."

            "At least we're not in any real trouble at the moment, or I would argue with keeping us all."

            "You wouldn't win, especially since I am the ranking duty fit officer around here at the moment.  Tina should be ready to leave here in an hour or so, and Deanna was starting to come around a bit.  But the three of you are relieved of bridge duty until this is over.  If I didn't have a gut feeling that we would need at least one of you to sort this out I would say totally relieved of duty for the duration.  But I am going to need to have you at least somewhat responsible.  So here's the deal.  Any thing that you guys want in the way of information that we find, you've got.  But under no circumstance are any of you going to have access to the bridge, if we need something we will ask for it.  Until then though I want you four to work together to figure out everything you can from the telepathic angle, in other words Julie too.  That is something that we cannot work on with the computers or the ship.  Got it?"

            "Yes ma'am."  Shakily standing Will left to join Deanna, only to finally feel in his aching head the little mental tickle that accompanied her simply being awake and near him.

            _"Imzadi?"_  Deanna croaked.

            "Welcome home love."  He held her more fiercely than he had meant to._  I have missed you.  Don't ever scare me like that again._

"I'll try not to.  What happened?"

            "We were hoping you could tell us."  Dr. Ogawa stood at the door watching her friends.  "All we know is what Tina and Julie managed to find out.  Will remembered a fire and you and Julie being hurt, that's it."

            "It's rather fuzzy.  If I prepare I can usually remember almost all of my dreams. But I wasn't.  I know I remember feeling Julie, Will and Tina with me."  She was nearly crying.  She gripped Will's hand.  "They were taking everything away from me, a piece at a time.  They even took the baby."  She was crying now.

            "The baby is fine.  He is not under any stress and he is not suffering from any trauma.  He did better than any of the rest of you."  Alyssa's confident tone and mental posture assuaged Deanna's worry.

            Deanna sighed.   It took her a moment to reorient herself, but she returned to trying to remember her nightmare.  "I remember a giant flaming bird.  And I was flying on his back.  I saw the bird destroy planets, and then I saw her destroy Tom and the _Trident._  Then the whole thing more or less repeated itself."

            "Well that's not much more than we already knew.  I want the three of you to try to see if you can piece anything else together.  By that time we might have something else from the rest of the crew."  She hoped at least.  "Deanna, you are going to be groggy for a little while, you might even feel like nodding off.  I would currently caution against it for a few hours.  I think you might be able to keep from falling back into this fugue if the lot of you stays conscious for a while.  Now, why don't you two go back to your quarters and eat.  Then try to work with each other.  See if you can piece anything you might have missed.  When Tina wakes up I well send her to you.  And remember what I told you Captain, no duty other than from your quarters."

            "Yes Beverly."  For the first time in the last day, Will found his trademark impish grin.  The two of them took their leave of the Doctor and returned to their quarters.  Sighs of relief poured from them when they reached home.  Generally they did not telepathically monitor Julie, but both were relieved when all either of them could sense were the normal dreams of a little girl.  Will was the first to speak after they requested something to eat.  Not surprisingly they chose comfort foods from childhood.  Will ordered a large plate of macaroni and cheese while Deanna opted for Spaghetti.  

            "When you first started talking about what happened you said they, any clue as to why?"

            "Other than it felt right.  I know I saw several people that could have been involved as more than characters.  No one ever spoke to me in any sort of direct way.  It was truly nightmare language.  I am not sure at all who or what we are dealing with at the moment.  I do think the phoenix is the most important thing.  Do have a idea on that one?"

            "Actually I can tell you that if you also feel that Tom is involved the phoenix has to do with those two ships.  I got to here a bit about how their Thallonian came on board.  According to the entire crew of the _Excalibur_ a phoenix erupted from the Thallonian homeworld destroying it.  Also after I had one of my frequent dressing downs from Jellico he mentioned that one of my logs was nearly as unbelievable as the Great Bird that destroyed Thallon.  My guess is whatever the creature was is going to be involved in whatever is going on, as far as I know you never knew anything about that."

            "No about the only thing you remembered to tell me about was Robin Lefler's mother unnerving you.  I never could figure out exactly why, but you seemed to feel like you had seen her before, but you never exactly told me who she reminded you of.  I do know that Jean Luc also felt the same way about the woman.  Other than that I know very little about either of those crews."

            Will contemplated a noodle for a moment.  The whole thing made as much sense as trying to see the block of cheddar while eating it melted.  You could fathom a whole once existing, but you could not truly rebuild the original block even after the cheese cooled.   The thought traveled through his mind and he wondered if he had ever been in a state to which an analogy like this one truly made any sense.

            _The sky was awash with the colors of fire.  Bright red embers flittered, mixed with the amber yellows of a hearth fire.  Blues and small patches of black peppered the scene, completing the ambience of a burning log, when what should have been seen was the normal star speckled void of space.  Lieutenant Carlotta Lesman felt in awe of the view before her.  Mixed within the reverence was a tinge of fear, although it took her several moments to remember why she felt the emotion.  She took in the rest of the scene before her.  After an undeterminable amount of time she realized what she was seeing, the glowing embers she had been watching were actually the flecks from wings of fire beating around her.  Finally she saw them, creatures of fire, flying in every direction around her.  Hundreds of them, if not thousands, surrounded her.  _

_            Anxiousness and anticipation filled her empathic senses and she had trouble trying to decide what was her own emotion and what was of the creatures around her.  She watched as the creatures, both large and small, flap lazily from what appeared to be nests, much like humanoids at a party socializing.  It was while watching them she remembered the briefing earlier that afternoon.  These must be the creatures that were causing the problems for the command staff.  They had apparently even injured the Captain and Commander LeBeau was currently recovering from an encounter from them as well.  With the realization came the reason she had felt fear when she found herself in the dream she now realized was a dream._


	4. Part 4

Part 4

            Only training kept Katie Thompson from tackling the Lieutenant at ops.  As it was she was not sure she would not have to get involved in what was happening.  Just moments ago Lesman had appeared to quietly doing her job when her head had pitched forward. Before her head could even hit the console she began to flail out at everything near her.  She clawed at her seat before anyone had gotten to her.  Ligdon had been manning tactical since she had taken the bridge in the absence of the upper command staff.  By the time he had tried to subdue her shed had managed to claw through the fabric on her chair, as well as taking off most of the skin on her hands from trying to rip through the framing of the chair.  When Ligdon tried to grab her she tossed him away from her with less effort than it took Katie to throw trash away.  

            The next person to try had been Lt. Marks.  He tried to use her distraction to grab her from behind, that only resulted in Quenten being flipped over and landing on his back against the helm.  Carlotta began to try again to rip the controls out of their housing.  Katie drew her phaser and fired.  Carlotta fell to the ground.  She should have been unconscious, but in her state the stun merely flattened her long enough to secure the area.  She was still whimpering.  With a calm that had only come from too many fights she called sickbay.  "Bridge to sickbay.  We have a medical emergency.  Lt. Lesman has apparently had a seizure."

            "On our way."

            Will was staring at his meal, trying to make sense of everything.  From where he sat nothing made any sense.  He had four people how had experienced the same type of nightmare, all of them telepaths.  Three of them had to be awakened from the nightmare by rather extreme measures.  He had exactly five telepaths on board.  The fifth was his ops officer.  As far as he knew Carli hadn't had any trouble with this thing yet.  Never in his career did he have to deal with something that was just making one part of his crew drop while the others remained healthy.  Even the other times when Deanna had experienced telepathic communion with others at her own expense he never had any other people just dropping for no apparent reason.  Deanna had taken his plate away from him without him noticing.  She sat in the corner, watching Julie sleep.  She seemed as lost in thought as he did.

            _What's wrong _Imzadi? 

            _Will, what's happening, and why are we the ones who have to do this?_

_            I don't know love.  To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if Q set this up.  Right now all we know is that there is an unknown threat jeopardizing two ships out there.  It could be something along the lines of the fact that Tom is on that ship.  I don't like to admit it but he shares the same bond with you that I have._

_            That's not it.  If it were I would have had things like this a lot more often than I could explain.  No, even though he and I are technically _Imzadi_ I haven't experienced the bond with him the way I do with you.  Anyway if it had anything to do with me and him why would you, Julie, and Tina be involved.  _She switched to verbal speech.  "I think we are dealing with something like what happened on Gemworld or during the Genesis Waves.  I think whatever is doing this to us is from another universe and we are picking up either an attempt to communicate that is getting jumbled or we are overhearing there plans."

            "Captain Riker report to Sickbay."

            By the time the captain had returned to sickbay Alyssa had managed to get Carli restrained.  She was still fighting and was not responding to any of the treatments that had been tried to this point.  Ogawa was at the point of wanting to sedate her even father when she saw the captain walk into the room.

            "Well that is the last one, it's official.  Every telepath on board has dealt with this phenomenon."  The doctor looked at the man, frustration growing in her eyes.

            "Let me guess, she is having the worst of it.  You never mentioned any of the rest of us fighting like she is.  So what happened?"

            "I had just finished my reports on LeBeau and was about to go relieve Thompson on the bridge when she called the medical emergency.  According to her, the lieutenant was working and pitched forward in her chair.  From there she started to try to destroy the ops board.  It took three people and a phaser on heavy stun to bring her down enough to get her here.'

            "Anything different?"

            "Other than the violence I assume."  Will nodded his head to indicate she had been correct.  "Actually yes.  Deanna and her are reacting in completely opposite ways to the contact.  Instead of her neurotransmitter level dropping, it is elevated, so much so that if the rate of change remains the same she will have fatal levels in her system within the day if we can't wake her up.  I already tried the same combination of drugs that worked before, without any success.  About the only thing that might work is either risking another rapport between the telepaths or putting her into medical stasis.  I can tell you that from her brainwave patterns she is having a more interactive dream than any of the rest of you had."

            Decision made Will hit his combadge.  "Commander Troi report to sickbay."  He sat down rather abruptly.  "I wish I knew what was going on."  Now all he had to do was shove to the back of his mind the fact that he was about to endanger his pregnant wife to try to figure out how to save at least two full ship's crews, and possibly a fair portion of the populated worlds in this region.  He could do this, he had before and he would most likely do it again.  That was the downside to having your spouse serving with you.  "Commander, I want you to prepare whatever you need to for Commander Troi to initiate a telepathic link with Lieutenant Lesman."

            "I would believe that is my call, Captain.  You are on restricted duty.  I agree with you sir, but I am the one who has to take responsibility for this action, you are only allowed to give advice at the moment."  She softened as the Doctor and friend returned to replace the command officer that had just been speaking.  "Will, I know you need to get to the bottom of this, and we will.  What I am going to have to do though is put my foot down when it comes to the health of my crew.  If it weren't for the fact that we are fairly sure that if we don't find out why theses attacks are happening both the _Trident _and _Excalibur_ will be destroyed, I would not even begin to allow Counselor Troi to do this.  But I am going to.  However I am going to set up a few ground rules.  First, all three of you will participate.  That means you will wait for Tina to wake up the rest of the way.  She was starting to show signs of waking when Carli was brought in.  So you won't have to wait too long.  Second, I am giving you one hour.  If you don't come out of it on your own in that time I am going to wake you.  Third, I think I want Julie here to monitor you.  She very well might be able to tell if you are in distress before I could.  Take it or leave it."

            "I haven't got much of a choice.  I would rather not have the squirt in on this but she might just be the best to do it.  She has been in and out of these dreams on her own, and hasn't had to have any help coming out of them other than shaking her."

            Deanna walked into the room as he was speaking.  "What happened?"  She had been purposely keeping her mind as closed as she could.  So she did not feel what had happened to Carli.  "How is she?"  Deanna motioned to the biobed where Lesman had been restrained.  

            "In the same state you were a few hours ago.  Except that she is having the opposite reaction to the state physiologically.  I've tried the therapy that I did on the three of you, no success.  The only thing I can think of is another link like Tina and Julie did with you and the Captain.  That's why we called.  You are going to have to be the one to lead it."

            "Lead, you mean I am not the only one doing this?"  She looked at her husband in a manner, which said that she thought he was trying to keep her from doing something.

            "Not my idea.  Alyssa is the one that laid the rules down.  She is technically the one in charge at the moment remember?  She wants all of us to go in after her.  I tend to agree.  Not on just the safety issue, but in that one of us might be able to figure out how this relates to the real world.  If we can do that, maybe that will be the end of it.  Once we get the information to Shelby and Calhoun, they will be able to do something about it.  Now, she also wants Julie here.  Not in the link but as an anchor.  I want your opinion on that.  It is the one thing that we can say no on."

            "I have the funny feeling that if we say no she would try to do it anyway.  At least if she is here in sickbay and something goes wrong she is monitored.  Everyone on our baby-sitting list, except for her teachers is on duty at the moment, and Tina is here.  So bring her too."  Deanna tried not to shake.  She could definitely handle putting herself into this situation; she had a number of times over the years.  What she did not want to do was lead a pair of people into this who had never done anything like this before, and have a five year old monitor them.  She would do it, but that did not mean she was at all in her element.


End file.
